U.S. OKs global science online gateway

WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has approved joining a multilateral alliance to govern the rapidly growing online gateway to international scientific research.

Officials from 38 nations, including the United States, formalized their commitments Thursday in Seoul by signing the WorldWideScience Alliance Agreement. It calls for sustaining and building upon efforts to "provide a single, sophisticated point of access (WorldWideScience.org) for diverse scientific resources and expertise from nations around the world," an Energy Department statement said.

"WorldWideScience.org is already a wonderful tool for communication, bringing scientific databases from many countries to the fingertips of those advancing the frontiers of knowledge across the globe," said the department's Undersecretary for Science Raymond Orbach. "Unleashing global scientific discovery, through WorldWideScience.org, will accelerate scientific progress. That is why we are so excited about this alliance and the global access to science it will provide."

The Web site can enable anyone with Internet access to launch a single-query search of 32 national scientific databases and portals from 44 nations, covering six continents and nearly half of the world's population.